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The Other Side
The Other Side is located on the opposite side of Aerb, approximately eight thousand miles below the hex.“It’s widely known that Aerb is flat, but what few realize is that it has two sides, the one we live on, and the one roughly eight thousand miles below us, where the force of gravity is inverted. There exists a singular shortcut between the two sides within an exclusion zone called the Gates of Leron, and the Other Side has been locked out of Aerb for five centuries with defenses that Uther put in place. The last I heard, they sent a raiding party to probe at the Gates, but that’s information from outside the Library, not from any books we’ve read. Of course, if you’re breaking exclusion zones, then perhaps we have to be worried after all.” ---The Remnants of the Past Travel to the Other Side Given the eight thousand miles between Aerb and the Other Side it is difficult to reach. There are few currently known ways to travel between. Gates of Leron The Gates of Leron exclusion zone contains the only shortcut to the Other Side. Uther put into place defenses that have lasted for about five hundred years, but they are frayed around the edges.“The defenses that Uther laid in place against the Other Side have held strong for five centuries, and will hold for decades at least, so long as we can bring together the necessary expertise to fix them where they’ve frayed at the edges. If those defenses are breached, we might still win, with considerable losses, but that’s not something that anyone would like to risk.” ---The Meeting of Minds Three weeks prior to Juniper's first meeting with Masters, the denizens of the Other Side sent a raiding party to probe the defenses.“The Void Beast has started moving again, the Outer Reaches are no longer dormant, the Infinite Library is down to five years, Celestar is thrumming with renewed power, a raiding party from the Other Side crashed against the Gates of Leron three weeks ago, and there’s reportedly something new that has the minions of the hells living in abject fear.” Masters looked back at me. “How strong are you? You said you’ve been on Aerb for months?” ---The Veil of the World Heshnel noted that the amount of force was not sufficient to cause concern,“The Other Side is not of immediate concern,” said Heshnel. “If they keep exerting force, or find their way past Uther’s defenses, we might need to worry.” ---The Remnants of the Past but that if the attackers sustained the effort or found a way to bypass the Gate it would be problematic and that a breach would result in serious losses. Entads Raven claimed most entads are unable to work across such long distances, but there were a rare few that could, including "meme-class entads". Uther originally traveled to the Other Side when he used an entad brooch that teleported him to the last person to say his name. When he returned to Aerb he refused to use it again for risk of returning to the Other Side. Uther later gathered several other "tools" to allow passage to the Other Side that bypass the Gates, although it is not clear whether these were entads or not.I looked over and saw Amaryllis with a deep-set frown on her face. “May I ask why, exactly, this isn’t an issue that’s being handled by the broader international community?” “The Other Side has different magic than we do,” said Raven. “They can use theirs here, and we can use ours there. They have their own mortal species, some with bloodline magics, and their own billion-some entads. Our worry is that they have, or might eventually develop, a way to get here that isn’t the Gates of Leron, and that such an event is much more likely to happen if more people know about them.” “Based on the Library?” asked Amaryllis. “Partially,” said Raven. “Uther had made a few trips there, over the years, and spent some time thinking about the vectors given what he’d seen of their resources and capabilities. Most entads don’t work across that kind of distance, but a rare few do, and meme-class entads were one of them. Uther had a brooch that would allow him to teleport to the last person to say his name. It was how he ended up on the Other Side in the first place, and once he got back home, he never used it again for fear he would wind up there.” She hesitated, chewing her words. “We have several pathways to the Other Side, tools that Uther kept stockpiled in case we needed to return there without compromising the integrity of the Gates. I don’t believe that it will be necessary, and I don’t know enough of your capabilities to say whether it would be wise, but the fact that they sent a raiding party is worrisome.” ---The Remnants of the Past Other Raven worries that the denizens of the Other Side might possess or subsequently develop a non-Leron method of traveling to Aerb, and that public awareness of the Other Side would only increase this risk. Creatures The Other Side has mortal species, some with their own bloodline magics. Some are presumably hostile, as there was a raiding party at the Gates of Leron. Magic The Other Side has different magics than those of Aerb, but both can be used in Aerb or the Other Side. Entads The Other Side has around a billion entads. Topography Gravity pulls in the opposite direction of that of Aerb. The Gates of Leron exclusion zone is accessible, but blocked by Uther's defenses. Doomed Timeline In the doomed alternate timeline mentioned in Chapter 132, Uskine Nervedah, alternate-Amaryllis reinforces the Gates of Leron with the aid of Thargox and many mages.The Gates of Leron were reinforced; whatever method Uther had used, Amaryllis had used Thargox and more warders than you could shake a stick at, a trick that she had independently discovered before I’d had a chance to bring that information back from the Library. ---Uskine Nervedah